Multimedia

Narratives

Site Information

Battles - The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917

Comprising a famed attack upon the heights which crucially overlooked the plains of Artois the Battle
of Vimy Ridge saw the Canadian Corps sweep away firmly entrenched German
defenders on 9 April 1917.

Sponsored Links

Some 12km northeast of
Arras Vimy Ridge gained early importance during the war on account of the
heights which overlooked the Allied-held town. German forces seized
control of the ridge in September 1914 and promptly constructed deep
defensive positions comprising bunkers, caves, passages and artillery-proof
trenches, heavily protected by concrete machine gun emplacements.

With such formidable
defensive precautions in place the German army rapidly set about the steady
destruction of Arras, pounding the town with heavy artillery - apparently
with impunity. French attempts to grab control of the ridge throughout
1915 were bloodily repulsed with the loss of some 150,000 French casualties.
Although the British relieved French operations in March 1916 they were
pushed back along a 2km front before they could commence aggressive
planning.

There matters lay pending
the wide-scale Arras offensive scheduled for the spring of 1917. As
part of this offensive the Canadian Corps, operating under British General
Julian Byng -
were tasked with the decisive recapture of Vimy Ridge. In preparation
for this the Canadians constructed miles of tunnels through which troops
could pass in readiness for the opening of the attack without coming under
shellfire. Aerial reconnaissance using
observation
balloons ensured accurate news of German movements.

At
dawn on the morning of Easter Monday 1917 - 9 April - the Canadian attack
comprising four divisions began following a heavy three-week British
artillery barrage and was supported by a well-devised creeping barrage.

Within thirty minutes the Canadian 1st Division, under
Arthur Currie,
had succeeded in capturing German front line positions in spite of a
snowstorm; within a further half hour the second line had similarly passed
into Canadian hands.

With the entire ridge
wholly under Allied control by 12 April (when Hill 145, the highest feature
on the ridge, fell) the operation was judged a spectacular success, the
single most successful Allied advance on the Western Front to that date.
The ridge remained in Allied hands for the remainder of the war.

It did not come without
cost however: 10,602 Canadians were wounded during the attack, and 3,598
killed. The opposing German force suffered even more heavily: 20,000
casualties.

Julian Byng later served as
Canadian Governor-General, and Arthur Currie was knighted for his wartime
services. Four
Victoria Crosses were awarded as a consequence of
fighting at Vimy Ridge: to Private William Milne, Lance-Sergeant Ellis
Sifton, Captain Thaine MacDowell and Private John Pattison.